My family at the moment. Not family of origin. Actually the only one in my immediate family not driving me up the wall is the baby.

My husband and middle child seem to have hoarding tendencies. I cannot throw anything away while they're around or I hear "I was going to use that!!!!" It could be a paper bag, a plank of wood, a paperclip, empty box, they were going to use it. Never mind it's been sitting in the same stinking place and they forgot it was even there, dangit, they would use it once they remember they have it!!

That reminds me of helping my parents clean out 30 years worth of stuff from their house to sell it. My mom and I are in the basement, going through piles of carp. I'd hold something up, she'd hem and haw, and I'd say "when the the last time you used it?" She would hem and haw some more, I'd say fine, out it goes, and her response was "but I might have a use for that" Bzzzzz - wrong answer! she wasn't so much a hoarder ,but both she and my dad had pack rat tendancies. After my dad died, and she sold their house, she moved into a smaller, 2BR house. She bemoaned the fact it only had TWO bedrooms, but 2.5 years later, has made the most of the space, and concedes its a good thing she went with the 2BR rather than the 3.

UPDATE: It is the starter, which he'll replace. And do an oil change while its in. And check my heat which is only working so so, going to flush the heater core to see if that helps, rather than replace which is $$$$$.

Was pleasantly surprised by Rent A Wreck. Got a decent car, for a good rate, and they were so nice! May start renting from them rather then the big chain when I have car repairs again.

My car. Again. the week before Sandy, it wasn't starting properly. Took it to the mechanic and he found nothing. so i brought it home, and until today, fine. It's now decided it wants to act up and not start again. UGH. Mechanic can take it, whcih is great, but finding a rental was tough. Due to damage from Sandy, they are all insanely busy, and many only renting to those with insurance claims. ended up with rent a wreck, which is local, and hopefully DC (demon car) will have a new starter and stop giving me fits

I've just started substitute teaching, and there is one thing that is driving me batty whenever I go into a local middle school. For some reason, the school invested in giving every student a tablet (even though the textbooks are falling to pieces, but that's another rant of things that make me crazy). Every day has at least one class with the trouble-making students, and always at least one of them whips out their tablet to watch music videos on Youtube during class. Why do they think that it's acceptable? Sometimes they don't even bother to turn the volume down, so I can hear it loud and clear, then they have the gall to look shocked when I tell them to turn it off and put it away.

Though another thing that drives me batty is schools getting a grant or good source of funding and then the Powers That Be spending it on something not school-related. When I was in high school, we had to do with dilapidated, out-dated text books and a copy machine so old and worn-out that the ink would come right off the paper onto your arm if you leaned on it. If you kept your assignments in a vinyl binder on a warm day, you wouldn't be able to do them at all, because half the words would be on the inside of your binder. But we had a state of the art weight room (forbidden to all but the school sports teams), a new electronic score board, and brand new uniforms for the teams every year. I went to school in a pretty rich county, with a terrible sports program that lost constantly and wasn't really bringing in any revenue, but for some reason, every time the school got funding, they saw fit to spend it on the sports programs. It made me crazy then and it makes me crazy now. If your text books are so old and torn-up that they barely have covers, why do the kids need iPads that they can access Youtube on? Wouldn't eReaders loaded with texts have been a wiser investment?

I've just started substitute teaching, and there is one thing that is driving me batty whenever I go into a local middle school. For some reason, the school invested in giving every student a tablet (even though the textbooks are falling to pieces, but that's another rant of things that make me crazy). Every day has at least one class with the trouble-making students, and always at least one of them whips out their tablet to watch music videos on Youtube during class. Why do they think that it's acceptable? Sometimes they don't even bother to turn the volume down, so I can hear it loud and clear, then they have the gall to look shocked when I tell them to turn it off and put it away.

Though another thing that drives me batty is schools getting a grant or good source of funding and then the Powers That Be spending it on something not school-related. When I was in high school, we had to do with dilapidated, out-dated text books and a copy machine so old and worn-out that the ink would come right off the paper onto your arm if you leaned on it. If you kept your assignments in a vinyl binder on a warm day, you wouldn't be able to do them at all, because half the words would be on the inside of your binder. But we had a state of the art weight room (forbidden to all but the school sports teams), a new electronic score board, and brand new uniforms for the teams every year. I went to school in a pretty rich county, with a terrible sports program that lost constantly and wasn't really bringing in any revenue, but for some reason, every time the school got funding, they saw fit to spend it on the sports programs. It made me crazy then and it makes me crazy now. If your text books are so old and torn-up that they barely have covers, why do the kids need iPads that they can access Youtube on? Wouldn't eReaders loaded with texts have been a wiser investment?

One irritating things about grants, other funding sources and public budgets is that often times the money can only be spent on designated things. So, the school could have an overflowing technology budget but no money for books. I saw this sort of thing frequently when I was teaching. It's very frustrating. As for the sports issue, maybe the money was coming from parent boosters or community sponsors? I know that when I was in school we always had to purchase our own uniforms. A good friend of mine has a daughter who's a cheerleader and she had to cough up almost $1500 for the girl's uniform this year.

Logged

Some people lift weights. I lift measures. It's a far more esoteric workout. - (Quoted from a personal friend)

Spoken almost constantly by my teenage son whenever he does something rude and is called to task on it.

It drives me up the spout! He's not the only one who does it, of course--it seems to be a constant thing with certain types of people--but I'm tired of it. I want all of this self-"just"ification to stop.

Every day has at least one class with the trouble-making students, and always at least one of them whips out their tablet to watch music videos on Youtube during class. Why do they think that it's acceptable? Sometimes they don't even bother to turn the volume down, so I can hear it loud and clear, then they have the gall to look shocked when I tell them to turn it off and put it away.

Could it be that these are children of people who think it's acceptable to do this in Avery Fisher Hall? I saw that the other night when I sat in the first row of the 3rd Tier with a bird's eye view of the orchestra seats. There is a lighted sign against the back wall of the stage requesting that the audience silence their cell phones and other devices. I saw stuff like this in the Met's audience last season for the first time.

I had hoped that people who attend such things would know better but once again I am disappointed.

It seems like there are a lot of products coming out geared towards women that are pink or some other "womenly" color. Bic Pens for Her, Honda is creating (or already created it) a car just for women in either pink or brown. And I saw on Ellen that apparently someone put out a laptop for women, the "floral kiss" either in...wait for it...pink, or "elegant white" and Ellen joked that it comes loaded with scrapbooking software and a horoscope.

Seriously? We women don't need a laptop made just for us, nor pens, nor a car. Okay yeah the scrapbooking program would be nice but why do they need to make a special computer for it? And really? Horoscope? Like all women are so into their horoscopes?

I swear it seems so demeaning.

Logged

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

I've just started substitute teaching, and there is one thing that is driving me batty whenever I go into a local middle school. For some reason, the school invested in giving every student a tablet (even though the textbooks are falling to pieces, but that's another rant of things that make me crazy). Every day has at least one class with the trouble-making students, and always at least one of them whips out their tablet to watch music videos on Youtube during class. Why do they think that it's acceptable? Sometimes they don't even bother to turn the volume down, so I can hear it loud and clear, then they have the gall to look shocked when I tell them to turn it off and put it away.

Though another thing that drives me batty is schools getting a grant or good source of funding and then the Powers That Be spending it on something not school-related. When I was in high school, we had to do with dilapidated, out-dated text books and a copy machine so old and worn-out that the ink would come right off the paper onto your arm if you leaned on it. If you kept your assignments in a vinyl binder on a warm day, you wouldn't be able to do them at all, because half the words would be on the inside of your binder. But we had a state of the art weight room (forbidden to all but the school sports teams), a new electronic score board, and brand new uniforms for the teams every year. I went to school in a pretty rich county, with a terrible sports program that lost constantly and wasn't really bringing in any revenue, but for some reason, every time the school got funding, they saw fit to spend it on the sports programs. It made me crazy then and it makes me crazy now. If your text books are so old and torn-up that they barely have covers, why do the kids need iPads that they can access Youtube on? Wouldn't eReaders loaded with texts have been a wiser investment?

Ipads are better for schools than eReaders

They can be used to read IBooks, Kindle Books, or Nook Books. You can make podcasts, books, movies.You can research on the web, while taking notes.

They have a classroom management problem. I have mixed feeling about unblocking Youtube, which my district did this year. I like the fact I can use an Ipad in my listening center to play youtube videos from Storyline online (SAG effort great actors reading great books). I can bookmark videos I want the kids to watch.

I've also caught kids watching inappropriate videos. In my case I explained that the consequence of accessing Youtube without permission was I would pack up the Ipads and send them to another 2nd grade teacher, who does not have any and she would keep them for a week. I check the history on them every day - have not had a repeat.